Great work by both. Not an easy topic. My winner hit the mark cleaner for me and painted a better image overall. Fairs in gents. Best of luck to whomever wins. 

I think Purps & Esso nailed the description here.

Row, yours was not literal, but I don't necessarily mind that. You described bliss well then its aftermath which turned into a sense of hell. Images were nice.. vocab was a step above, maybe even to a fault. Flow was fine & so was rhyming. Being ridiculously good at something and relating that to "heaven" though was a bit of a stretch though.

Mask, you went with a more literal approach. Your description of hell was solid but the description of heaven was a little shaky. I'm also wondering why would a murderer go to heaven in the first place? I mean I got it from the jump so I was waiting for the twist so I was kinda let down there. Rhyming here was fine.

It's obvously close but I've got a winner here. Best of luck to both of you & grats making it this far.

Welcome to Finals for the 2024 Topical Championship!

Verses Due: Thursday, April 11th by 11:59PM EST

Voting Ends: Monday, April 15th

Topic: "Descending From Heaven to Hell"

Remember to post your topic in the comments!

Good luck to you both!

Topic: "Descending From Heaven to Hell"

Better be a good topic

Terrible topic!!!!! Wtf is this shit?

Nice work on this Opening Ryhme scheme Row..This Ive achieved battery is great as well.. and totally in context lyrically and subject wise so far.. very nice.... I like the start of Masked reapers story, simple yet snatchy, I laughed out loud at the "I protected myself with hard strikes".. this was a good direction of the story. The Only problem i had with Row's story is towards the middle the transition was fuzzy.. hard to keep a scheme like that going and still make a totally concise storyline. Honestly A better story and plot with some good raw lyrics would have won me over for masked dispite the ryhming mastery of Row.. the heaven and hell transtion was a lil confusing. Unfortunately Masked followed the great start of his story into an even more confusing story that ends with a drug dealer switching places with him? What? lol.. " now the skies turned red, I’m being dragged back to the place I first wept, "<-----After this is where the story goes south...While both of these peices were  fine examples of mastery in Lyrical & written ryhme cadance, Row pulled this one out with a less confusing story (be it abstract or not) then Masked. Abstract wins today. W = Row....Here are a few of my favorite lines from both:_________________"I protected myself with hard strikes.. he was found unconscious under the park lights… paramedics using defibrillators tryna spark life""I can see visions of life events, the first time I was lying next to my wife in bed, my sons first soccer goal as it strikes the net""I thought I was going to heaven & making it higher, at peace with praying and choirs, instead I can see my kids face in the fire""The sense that comes from the goals that I’ve achieved? Akin to paradisiacal bliss at its highest peak. Walk into lecture halls and never have to find a seat""I’m their pride & glee; Research expeditions; I’m the guide, the chief. Innumerable hashtags; name is in all kinds of tweets. Visit institutions; be the one they’d die to meet. Step in establishments and everything I’d buy is free"" What further stokes the flames? My parents: there’s no inch of compassion. To their expectations for me? there is no limit; it's added!"

Both verses were incredible here. Row immediately out the gate takes vocabulary and keeps high level vocabulary up through the entire verse which gave it a nice almost Stokeresque feel. Rhyme schemes were on a very similar level here, as was syllable count is most cases. Both had strong storytelling, though I felt MR shined moreso in this aspect. Row had more traditional "bars" with punchlines here. Really strong showing from both here, wouldn't be surprised of either won, this one comes down to personal choice for me, and I have my winner based on his ability to hook me with a relatively easy to follow story that I felt somewhat stuck to the topic better. fuckin awesome verses here

It all came down to relatability. TBH, idk what the fuck ROW was saying. No hate but if someone said that to me that they are going through a "scorching labyrinth" i would be like the fuck is that? Go get a prescription. Mask is takin it

Congrats on making the finals. Wasn't a huge fan of the topic but I thought both covered it well. I felt like my winner was just a notch above in terms of vocab/imagery but could see this going either way. Close call. Good luck 

Both took unique approaches to the topic and came with creative material. I feel like one had a bit higher level of execution while providing a twist that kinda sealed this. Good luck to both and props for making it to the final. 

Delivery & overall execution really felt a fair amount better on one side. Solid bout though. 

I preferred one's approach over the other. 

Style takes it for me in this one because the topic is crap

I don't have further explanation on this one.

MVGT Row

What the point of having to wipe all that... this ain't a battle its more like an endurance race!

Good shit to both making it to the finals

My winner to me stuck more to the topical Imo.

FVNH and GL to the winner 

Just getting in. Congrats to both for making it to the finals. Dropping the last vote on this before closing the tourney. I've read these both a few times now.

Row had better vocabulary and had a more poetic approach. I enjoyed the bookends of his story more than the actual (transitionary) middle section. Interesting take on the topic and what represented heaven & hell to the main character. Main critique would be someitmes less is more on the big vocabulary for the sake of the read. Seemed like at times you're just abusing a thesaurus lol Impressive, but excessive at times.

Masked-Reaper had a more literal depiction of the descent. I dug the rewind effect of the imagery as well. This was relatively even on the progression of the storyline.  The critique here is the ending didn't resonate like I though it would. I understand the trade (and the irony) but it needed more fleshing out. The thing that set the winner apart was the full circle on the story. Both had their high points. Both had weak sections, but the overall piece from Row was  the stronger end to end read. BOTH were a Finals-level piece of writing. Props to both.